Cattle-guard.



W. J. 111mm. CATTLE GUARD.V APPLICATION FILED JULY- 10, 1913.

Patented Jan.`19, 1.91.5..`

` 2 SHEETS-SHEBT-l. I

1HE MORRIS PETERS Cc.. PHOTCvLlTHO.. WASHINGTON. D, c.

W. J..HIGKEY.

` CATTLE GUARD.

* l APPLICATION FILED JULY 10, 1913. l 1, 125,095, Patented Jan. v19,1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Suva/wip@ 1HE NORRIS PETERS C0.. PHOTO-LITHO.,WASHINUION, U. C.

WILLIAM J'. HICKEY, 0F RENO, NEVADA CATTLE-GUARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 19, 1915.

Application filed July 10, 1913. Serial No. 778,340.

ToaZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, IVILLIAM J. HICKEY,citizen of the kUnited States, residing at Reno, in the county oflVashoe and State of Nevada, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Cattle-Guards, of which the following is aspecification.

r1`his invention relates to cattle guards and aims to provide a guardwhich may be readily set up and which, while it will afford an unstablefooting for an animal treading thereon, will not be liable to get out oforder.

Another aim of the invention is to so construct the tread of the guardthat it will yield in a downward direction when weight is imposedthereon and will be immediately returned to normal position as soon asrelieved of the weight.

The invention also aims to so construct the guard that although itstread will yield in a downward direction when an animals hoof is placedthereon, there will be no likelihood of the hoof being caught orinjured.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a plan View of the guardembodying thev present invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view onthe line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar view on the line 3--3 ofFig. 1. Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse sectional view through theguard. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of aportion of one of the treadsections.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawingsby the same reference characters.

In the drawings, the guard is illustrated as mounted upon a section oftrack, the ties of which are indicated by the numeral 1 and the rails bythe numeral 2.

The guard consists essentially of a middle section and side sections,the middle or intermediate section being supported upon the ties betweenthe rails, and the side sections being supported upon the ties outwardlyof the rails. The intermediate tread section of the guard includes afixed portion and yieldable portions, the ixed portion includingattaching plates 3 which are secured upon the ties 1 by means of spikesor the like. Secured upon the attaching plates 3 are a number of treadbars 4 which have their upper edges beveled, as clearly shown in Fig. 4of the drawings and as indicated at 5.. These bars 4 extend in parallelrelation with respect to each other and with respect to the rails 2 andthey are spaced apart and from the rails preferaby a sutlicient distanceto prevent an animal gaining foothold thereon, but are not so spaced asto allow the animals hoof to pass between them or to become wedged.1While the bars 4 are here illustrated as of such length as to extendover three of the ties, it will, of course, be understood that they maybe made longer or shorter as may be desired. The movable or yieldableportionsk of the intermediate section are arranged atl each end of theiixed portion above described, and each of the movable portions consistsof parallel tread bars 6 which extend in parallel relation and inalinement with the bars 4. The bars 6 are of the same cross sectionalform as the bars 4 and at their free ends are.,connected by a crosspiece 7 Inwardly of their free ends the bars are connected by a crossbar 8 secured yto their under sides and extending transversely of theseries of bars. A pivot rod 9 is fitted through the inner ends of thebars 6 in the manner clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings, andat its ends this rod is mounted in upstanding bracket ears 10 carried bya plate l1 secured upon that one of the ties upon which one of the endones of the. attaching plates 3 of the fixed portion is mounted. In thismanner the bars 6 comprising the movable portion of the intermediatesection of the guard are mounted for swinging movement, and it will beapparent that when an animal treads upon the bars, the said movableportion as a whole will be swung downwardly, thereby preventing theanimal gaining foothold upon the guard. In order that the movableportion may be normally held raised or in the position shown in Fig. 3of the drawings, a spring is employed in connection with each of thevportions and is preferably formed with spaced members 11 and aconnecting portion 12 which extends beneath one of the bars 6, as shownin Fig. 1, the members 11 being coiled as at 13 about the pivot rod 9and having their ends secured to the respective bracket plate. In orderto limit the upward swinging movement of the movable portions of theintermediate section, stopingers 14 are secured upon a block 15 mountedupon that one of the ties beside which the cross piece 7 extends. It ispreferable that the block 15 be provided with inclined upper faces 1.6so as to assist in preventing an animal gaining foothold upon the guard.It will be observed that the movable portions of this section of theguard are arranged one at each end of the fixed portion and that theirpivoted ends are located next adjacent the.

ends of the said iXed portion.

inasmuch as the side sections of the guard are of counter-partconstruction a description of one will sulfce for both, it beingobserved that one of these sections is mounted at each side of theintermediate section and upon the projecting ends of the ties. Thesection consists of two sets of tread bars l? connected at their ends bycross pieces 18 and it will be observed that the corresponding bars ofthe two sets extend in alinement, the sets being disposed end to end. Apivot rod 19 is fitted through the bars 17 of each set at a pointapproximately midway between the ends thereof and transversely of theset, and this rod at its end is mounted in the upstanding ends 2O of abracket plate 21 secured upon one of the ties 1. A spring having spacedportions 22 and a connecting portion 23 has its said spaced portionscoiled about the pivot rod 19 and has its ends beyond the coils securedin the bracket plate 21. The connecting portion 23 of the spring bearsagainst the under sides of a pair of bars, and this spring normallyholds the bars comprising each of the members of the sectionsubstantially horizontal, it being understood, however, that the end ofeach member which is located at the end of the guard as a whole may bedepressed against the tension of the respective spring. The oppositeends of the members or in other words, their adjacent ends rest upon theupper surface of the tie which is located between the ties upon whichthe bracket plates 21 are mounted, and this engagement of the adjacentends of the members of the said tie serves to limit their swingingmovement, due to the action of the springs, so that they will normallyoccupy a substantially horizontal position as stated. At this point itwill be apparent that should an animal tread upon any one of the memberscomprising the side guard sections, that end of the member which islocated at the end of the guard as a whole will be depressed and theopposite end will be elevated so that not only will the yielding of themember prevent the animal gaining a foothold on the guard but theelevation of the last mentioned end of the member will appear to theanimal as a barrier and will in this way tend to discourage furthereffort on the part of the animal to cross the guard. In order that therocking of either member of either of the side sections will cause acorresponding movement of the other end thereof an arm 25 is secured tothe under side of one of the bars of each member at the adjacent ends ofthe members and projects beneath the end of the correspon ding bar ofthe other member as clearly shown in Figs. l and 2 of the drawings. ltwill be understood, of course, that as either member is rocked, the armcarried thereby will ride beneath the bar of the other member andelevate the adjacent end thereof.

It is preferable that the guard be mounted between two winged fencessuch as are usually employed in connection with cattle guards thesefences serving as usual to insure of the animal stepping upon theoperative portion of the guard.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. In a cattle guard, a relatively fixed guard member and a depressibleguard member arranged at each end of the fixed member, means yieldablysupporting the depressible guard members, a block located adjacent eachof the depressible guard members and having an inclined face, and meanscarried by each block and arranged to limit the upward movement of therespective guard member.

2. ln a cattle guard, a supporting bracket comprising a base plate andupstanding ends, a rod mounted in the said upstanding ends of thebracket, a guard section including bars mounted for rocking movementupon the said rod, means connecting the bars, and a spring coiled aboutthe rod and having a portion bearing beneath one of the bars at one sideof the said rod.

3. In a cattle guard, guard members mounted for rocking movement anddisposed end to end, and a resilient arm projecting from the adjacentend of each mem` ber beneath the said end of the other member, wherebydepression of the remote ends of either member will. result insimultaneous upward swinging movement of the adjacent ends of bothmembers.

4:. In a cattle guard, guard members mounted for rocking movement anddisposed end t0 end, and resilient yieldable connection between theadjacent ends of the members, whereby depression of the remote end ofeither member will result in simultaneous upward swinging movement ofthe adjacent ends of both members.

ln testimonyA whereof l afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

OSCAR J. SMiTH, LAURENCE C. BERINGER.

Copies of this patent may 'be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of iatents,

Washington, D. C.

